• LeadersAtWork@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    We humanize things that have traits we attach to. After all, many of us understand a dog is an animal and yet they are also often a part of our family in very human-like ways, including how we talk to them in complete sentences, and may even include them in conversation. So then it becomes less about physical attraction, which is certainly there for a lot of people and anime characters, it then becomes about an emotional bond. Absolutely none of this is a problem until it crosses that invisible threshold where that bond becomes more affection and eventually longing.

    Thankfully, most people stop at the bonding part where they enjoy a creator or a character and understand that is all it is: A Creation fundamentally distant from them.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Sorry, I meant I didn’t really get the “anime character that promotes music on YouTube” part.

      As I said to someone else, I’m not going to kink shame her, I just want her to know that any girl she meets in the real world will not be like that anime character. And I think she understands that.

      Honestly, getting her to meet people in the real world at all is a slog.

      • LeadersAtWork@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Oh no I didn’t mean any sort of shaming. Only that this digital world creates new stressors and puzzles for both parent and child. A kid just hitting 15 has essentially grown up in a world where digital and anime characters influenced them. Many kids may attach some emotional prerequisite to those characters and unintentionally judge others based on that perspective. Moreover, hanging out in person after The Lost Years (Covid) is almost secondary to the ease of things like Snapchat and other obligations such as school bring.

        I don’t envy any parent trying to work through this.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          I guess, but I know a lot of kids in the 80s who considered this character a big part of their sexual awakening…

          (I think it was the leg warmers)

          Also, this character for slightly younger kids:

          (Damn, just doing an image search for her brings up some weird shit.)